Pittsburgh: A New Portrait

by Franklin Toker

From its founding in 1758, Pittsburgh has experienced several epic transformations.  It began its existence as a fortress, on a site originally selected by George Washington.  A hundred years later, and well into our own time, no other American city was as intensively industrialized, only to be later consigned to “rustbelt” status.  Remade as a thriving twenty-first-century city and an international center for science, medicine, biotechnology, and financial services, Pittsburgh is now routinely acclaimed as one of the most promising and livable of America's cities.  Franklin Toker shows us why.

Toker highlights this remarkable story of urban reinvention by focusing on what makes Pittsburgh so resilient and appealing - its strong neighborhoods and their surprisingly rich architectural history.   The many unique, lively urban communities that make up Pittsburgh are a treasure trove of every imaginable style of structure, from Victorian to Bauhaus, Gothic to Art Deco, and from Industrial to Green.  These ordinary homes expressed the aspirations of people who came from around the world to settle in Pittsburgh, while they built the city itself into an economic powerhouse.  With the wealth generated by this everyday work, local captains of industry could build their own monumental additions to Pittsburgh's urban landscape, including two of America's greatest H. H. Richardson's Allegheny Courthouse and Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater. 

With accessible prose, Toker examines Pittsburgh in its historical context (from Indian settlement to postmodern city), in its regional setting (from the playgrounds of the Laurel Highlands to the hard-working mill towns dotting the landscape), and from the street level (leading the reader on a personal tour through every neighborhood).  Lavishly illustrated with photos and maps, A New Portrait reveals the true colors of a truly great American city. 

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Architecture, American History, Urban Studies

528 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[Dominika · Rating 5 out of 5]

I actually had Professor Toker at Pitt for Introduction to Architecture and if I would have taken this class earlier in my college career, I might have had an art history minor because he gave some of my favorite (non-science) lectures. This book captures a lot of what I loved about that class: the intersection of art, science, and history that is architecture. There's a lot of detail here, not only about many of our unique buildings, but the various philanthropists and visionaries that shaped how our city looks. There's a lot of history here, not the whitewashed pleasant thing that we tend to associate with the city, but the good and the bad. The book has its own humor, which is a bit subjective but was full of the witticisms that I personally enjoy.

Anyway, I plan to revisit certain sections of this as I explore the neighborhoods and feel that's something that should be done with this book.

[Janet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this with Google maps handy. Not enough pictures!

[Sheila · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating look at Pittsburgh through the architecture in the neighborhoods as well as giving the history of how each neighborhood came to be.

I'm not sure the library thought I would ever return this book. I had it for 5 or 6 months as this is a book you meander through just as you would meander through the neighborhoods with this book to look at the architecture and homes specifically mentioned. There was so much information I found about the history of the neighborhoods as well as Pitt and Carnegie Mellon. Mr. Toker also speaks of the neighborhoods outside of the city and how they affect or affected life in the city of Pittsburgh.

This is a book every Pittsburgher should read. I can understand why most of us do not leave. If we do leave, we find others from Pittsburgh and many of us will return back to Pittsburgh to stay.

[Amanda Peterson · Rating 4 out of 5]

As someone who loves my city and history this book was a good fit, even if some portions were a little out of date(published in 2009). Found this by coincidence at a used bookstore. Some of the passages I found interesting were neighborhoods as well as citizens, particularly how the influence of not only the European immigrants that laid the groundwork for the city, but how the Black, Jewish, and LGBTQ+ communities have helped it to thrive. Not to mention how the food scene has transformed the city as well.

[Jeramey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite comprehensive, but as someone reading it before their first trip to Pittsburgh (probably not the intended audience) I found it difficult to gauge distances by the author's language and whether-or-not things were in the city or in a far-off suburb. Maps helped sometimes, but not all the time.

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not just architecture. A fascinating history of Pittsburgh, it's history, it's neighborhoods and the people they were named for.

[Adam Schweigert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unfortunately, I was left wanting more photos of the buildings referenced. Otherwise a great introduction to Pittsburgh neighborhoods and architectural history.

[April · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome introduction to Pittsburgh. There is a ton of architectural history - particularly,reference to Marcel Breuer & Walter Gropius (The Frank House), which, in size and completeness, is unrivaled for a Bauhaus private residence.
Other exciting finds - Mies van der Rohe & Modernists such as William Lescaze I.M. Pei & Richard Meier...
Toker separates out each section of the city and highlights historical points to each one of them. Even information on the Brancusi that was vandalized and removed from the Homewood Cemetery are topics that I found captivating.

[Patrick Fiorill · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solid

[Kris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pittsburgh history told through its architecture, in a very engaging way.